Cookies Anyone

As a child, two of my favorite cookies were my mother's "Dad's Cookies" and my grandmother's "Soft Molasses Cookies". While I have made my mother's cookie recipe numerous times over the years with great success, I could never turn out a molasses cookie to measure up to my memory Grammie Wile's Soft Molasses Cookies. I think I am missing an important ingredient

...the wood stove!

My mother's recipe:

 

...but not my mother's Dad's Cookie!

 

Expanding waistlines have necessitated some revisions to the basic recipe...we could just resist eating cookies period, but what's the fun in that...so I made some changes to cut down a little on the fat and sugar, making them a little healthier. 

Dad's Cookies
1/4 c. butter or margarine
1/4 c. applesauce
1 c. brown sugar 
1 c. sugar replacement (I used Compliments) ***
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 c. flour
1\2 tsp. salt
1\2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 c. coconut
2 c. rolled oats (I used the old fashion kind)
2 Tbsp.ground flax seed
1/2 c. dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Cream the butter, brown sugar, and sugar replacement. Add eggs, apple sauce and vanilla and mix together. In a separate bowl, mix all the dry ingredients together. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet and mix until combined. Roll dough into balls, place on a cookie sheet and flatten balls with a fork dipped in milk. Or...you can be lazy like me and just drop the dough from a spoon onto the cookie sheet and press down with a fork.  Bake for 12 minutes or until slightly browned. Remove from cookie sheet a cool onto a rack.

*** You are supposed to be able to replace sugar measure for measure using this product but don't. I find it leaves an after taste but using it to replace half the sugar called for in a recipe works fine.

Homemade Goodness

One of our favorite cookies around here are from a recipe of my Mom's,

"Dad's Cookies." 

Soft, chewy and easy to make!

Dad's Cookies
1 c. butter or margarine
1 c. brown sugar
1 c. white sugar
2 eggs
1 c. coconut
2 c. flour
2 c. rolled oats
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. vanilla
 ***for Thanksgiving, I threw in a couple handfuls of dried cranberries for a holiday touch. The recipe doesn't call for them but you can throw pretty much anything in...pecans are yummy in this recipe.

Cream butter, sugars, vanilla and eggs together. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. The easiest way I find to mix  is to just roll up your sleeves and use your hands to mix. Roll into balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten with a fork dipped in milk. Bake in a preheated oven, 375 degrees for 10 to 12 min. until set and just lightly browned. Do not over bake or they will be hard and not soft and chewy. Cool for 5 min. before removing from cookie sheet.

 Double Pumpkin Bars

...another recipe that I tend to make quite often, 

a little healthier than the Dad's Cookies 

but we find them just as tasty!

These are a nice moist bar.

Double Pumpkin Bars

1/2 c. whole wheat flour

1 c. rolled oats

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. allspice

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 c. sugar

1/2 c. canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)

1 egg

1/4 c. veg. oil

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 c. chopped dates

1/4 c. pumpkin seeds

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8x8 pan. In a bowl combine the first seven ingredients. Whisk together the wet ingredients and then stir into the dry ingredients. Mix in the dates and pumpkin seeds. Spread in pan and bake 20 min. until top is firm and tooth pick comes out clean. Cool on rack, cut into bars and store in refrigerator for up to a week.

FIELD COOKIES

Last week, Jacqueline, one of my daycare moms brought me some freshly baked cookies to try and they were so delicious I had to have the recipe. Aptly named "Field Cookies" they are loaded with goodness... lots of seeds and grains, but low in fat and sugar. This recipe calls for only one cup of butter and two cups of sugar to make seven dozen cookies which is not a lot compared to what most recipes call for. While Jacqueline's turned out like thicker drop cookies, mine flattened out during baking like typical chocolate chip cookies and I ended up with nine dozen instead of seven. These are a great and very tasty way to "fiber up" your diet!

FIELD COOKIES

2 c. unbleached flour (I used 1 white and 1 whole wheat)
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. baking soda
1 c. raisins
1/2 c. sesame seeds
1 c. flax seeds
1/2 c. sunflower seeds
1/2 c. pumpkin seeds
1/2 c. poppy seeds
1 1/2 c. rolled oats
1/2 c. coconut
1 1/2 c. chocolate chips

2 c. brown sugar
1 c. unsalted butter, melted
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl mix together the first 12 ingredients. In a separate bowl beat together the butter, eggs , sugar and vanilla. Add to the dry ingredients. The recipe says to roll dough into balls, place on cookie sheet and flatten balls with a fork but I didn't. I just dropped mine by a teaspoon and didn't bother to flatten them. They flattened out on their own in the oven. Bake for 10 - 12 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.